Federal Law Alert

New Form I-9 Released

FEB 03, 2020

On January 31, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a new Form I-9. The form is dated 10/21/2019 and should be used immediately. USCIS is allowing employers a three-month grace period, however, during which the old form (dated 07/17/2017) may be used. By May 1, 2020, only the new form should be used. 

The new form can be found on the HR Support Center by searching Form I-9, or on the USCIS website, here. Regardless of where you get it, make sure you right click on the download link and “Save link as…” then right click the saved file on your computer and select “Open with Adobe...” 

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USCIS made the following changes to the form and its instructions:

 

Form

Revised the Country of Issuance field in Section 1 and the Issuing Authority field (when selecting a foreign passport) in Section 2 to add Eswatini and Macedonia, North per those countries’ recent name changes. This change is only visible when completing the fillable Form I-9 on a computer.

Instructions

  • Clarified who can act as an authorized representative on behalf of an employer
  • Updated USCIS website addresses
  • Provided clarifications on acceptable documents for Form I-9
  • Updated the process for requesting paper Forms I-9
  • Updated the DHS Privacy Notice

 

For more information, visit I-9 Central or watch videos or a Form I-9 webinar, presented by USCIS.